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Monday, February 13, 2012

When in the midst of numerous myriads,
there is need for identity. So, primarily the ‘name’ is a word or term for
identification. A Name can identify a class or category of things, or a
single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. In man kind, we try to have unique and identifiable names
though some are more oft repeated than others – so you find similar names for
persons hailing from a particular place.
In India,
as also in many other countries, there is the tradition of naming after Gods
and valiant heroes.

In naming animals, new inventions,
planets, trains or even files on computer, there are various ‘naming patterns’
which help in making them unique, individualistic and easily identifiable. There are two ways or perhaps more about
names.

Some say, that the sweetest music to a human is hearing their own name. On the contrary, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
is a quotation from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, meant to say
that the names of things do not matter, only what things are !!

You may have heard of a Scientific organization
‘Society of Experimental Social Psychology’ (SESP) - dedicated to the advancement of social
psychology. They also publish two research journals: the Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology and Social Psychological and Personality
Science. There is something of a new
theory confounded which states that “People with easy-to-pronounce names are
favored at work and in personal life”
- does it sound sense, sweet or
logic to your ears ??

Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name is
more likely to win you friends and favour in the workplace, a study by Dr Simon
Laham at the University of Melbourne and Dr Adam Alter at New York University
Stern School of Business, has found. In
the first study of its kind, and published in the Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology, researchers analyse how the pronunciation of names can
influence impression formation and decision-making. In particular, it is
demonstrated "the name pronunciation effect," which occurs when
people with easy–to-pronounce names are evaluated more positively than those
with difficult-to-pronounce names. The theory states that :

• People
with more pronounceable names are more likely to be favoured for political
office and job promotions

• Political
candidates with easy-to-pronounce names are more likely to win a race than
those without, based on a mock ballot study

• Attorneys
with more pronounceable names rise more quickly to superior positions in their
firm hierarchies, based on a field study of 500 first and last names of US
lawyers

Thus according to the authors of the
theory, there are subtle biases that we
are not aware of, affect our decisions
and choices. They further say that "Research
findings revealed that the effect is not due merely to the length of a name or
how foreign-sounding or unusual it is, but rather how easy it is to
pronounce,"

In a share market, if you had
all along that the fundamentals like EPS or speculation that determine their
price, volume and movement, the research work suggests that financial stocks
with simpler names tend to outperform similar stocks with complex names
immediately after they appear on the market !!!! Following a mock ballot, candidates with
easier names were found to be more likely to win an election race than those
without.

So, if you have felt that you have always
struggled to get up in the career ladder, whilst some had it easy and if you
had ever wondered that you are always by-passed for promotion and recognition –
then perhaps think of changing to a easily pronounceable common name !!! But always understand that there would always
be exceptions and whether it is the norm or exception is not easily determinable. Bill Gates and
Larry Page could be very common names but there are also achievers like Mark
Zuckerberg

I feel that mine is not too common and how
about yours …….. so any thoughts of changing yours in to a common, easily
pronounceable one…… !!